Prince Charles uses website to set the story straight

Prince Charles doesn't order seven boiled eggs for breakfast in order to choose the one he likes best, his office said in a statement designed to dispel myths about the heir to the British throne.

PRINCE Charles doesn't order seven boiled eggs for breakfast in order to choose the one he likes best, his office said in a statement designed to dispel myths about the heir to the British throne.

The claim was made by BBC television presenter Jeremy Paxman in a 2006 book. The website of the Prince of Wales was updated to dismiss that assertion and other commonly held views about the prince and his family.

''Does the Prince of Wales have seven boiled eggs cooked for his breakfast but only eat one, as claimed in Jeremy Paxman's book On Monarchy?'' reads one entry on the site. ''No, he doesn't and never has done, at breakfast or any other time.''

As the Queen celebrated 60 years on the throne this year, courtiers are gradually managing the process of succession. The prince celebrated his 64th birthday yesterday. Charles has a reputation for eccentricity. In 1994 he was mocked in the press for revealing he talks to plants.

He has been a critic of some modern architecture and criticised traditional science in a 1996 speech that said it had assumed a ''tyranny'' over ''our understanding of the world''.

The website also explains why, despite his environmental interests, he is driven in a Bentley and owns a classic Aston Martin that Prince William used on his wedding day last year.

''The prince does not own or choose to drive around in a Bentley,'' it says. ''The car is required for some engagements for security reasons'' and is owned by London's Metropolitan Police.

It points out that the prince's cars have been converted to run on biodiesel or bioethanol.

The website also denies that Charles advocates dangerous and untested medical therapies, saying that he favours a ''wider, preventative approach to health care by addressing the underlying social, lifestyle and environmental causes''.

It also poses the question: ''Does the prince dislike all modern architecture?'' It answers: ''No. The prince has been the patron of several contemporary architects, and has provided training to young architects through his charity, the Prince's Foundation for Building Community.'' BLOOMBERG